


Hard But Easy

by ArtemisChick



Category: Child 44
Genre: F/M, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace freeform, Tom Hardy - Freeform, Tom Hardy freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:49:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1953987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisChick/pseuds/ArtemisChick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An intimate talk in the middle of the night. LeoxRaisa. Mature.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard But Easy

**A/N: Child 44 is not mine. Credits to Tom Rob Smith for Leo and Raisa. Just inspired.**  
  
  
  
 **In-between the period when they had the serial killer caught and killed and before meeting Zoya and Elena.**  
  
  
  
 **Spoilers ahead for those who haven't read the book yet.**  
  
   
  
 **Hard But Easy**  
  
Leo Demidov turned to his side and looked at his sleeping wife beside him. In the darkness, he could clearly make out her features, thanks to the glow of the lamp post streaming from outside the window. Raisa was lying on her back, breathing softly as her chest rose up and down. Her blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders. Leo silently admired her as he watched her sleep; the double-crease of her eyelids, her small pointed nose, and the peaceful expression on her lips. His eyes went downwards to her bare white shoulders, as she was only clad in a sleeveless nightgown. His eyes shifted to her breasts, which was poking through the sheer fabric. For some reason, Leo felt ashamed of himself for thinking of such things in the middle of the night.  
  
  
   
  
He thought of the time when they ended up making love in the forest after they returned from their Moscow trip to Voualsk a month ago or so. For the first time since he married her, Leo felt that she was finally reciprocating his feelings for her. It gave a whole new meaning to the term "making love". That feeling was validated when Raisa confessed that she had fallen in love with him. I've always loved you, he told her. He always did. Maybe she realized that the love he have for her was for real.  
  
   
  
Leo kissed the side of her forehead and smiled. Raisa was awakened, her heavy eyelids struggling to open.  
  
- _Leo?_ She whispered.  
  
- _You've been asleep_? he asked.  
  
- _You woke me up_. She smiled sleepily at him.  
  
- _I've been staring at you the entire time. Your low-cut nightgown bothers me_ , he joked.  
  
   
  
Raisa laughed, saying,  
  
- _Since when you have been so bothered with my clothes?_  
  
  
 _-I can see your breasts through that nightgown_ , Leo said, pretending to look displeased.  
  
   
  
She sat up, smiling widely.  
  
- _Wait 'til I bother you further_.  
  
   
  
With one move, she pulled over her nightgown and threw it on the floor, revealing her nakedness in front of him. Without a word, she straddled Leo as he remained lying down, slowly unbuttoning his pajama top. Raisa ran a finger through his chest downwards, saying:  
  
  
- _Now I'm really bothering you, Officer Demidov_.   
  
She smiled widely at him. Leo understood what she meant, and without any ado, he slowly sat up and kissed her while she remained on his lap, her legs wrapped around his waist. Leo got rid of his pajama top, and soon, the rest of their clothing. It didn't took long for him to find his way to the very depths of her as they got  lost with each other in the middle of the night.  
  
   
  
After they made love for the first time since that day in the forest, Leo and Raisa lie closely to each other, the covers drawn against their naked bodies. His arms were wrapped tightly around her small waist, her back pressed to his chest. They remained like that for a long time, until Raisa spoke up, breaking the lovely silence between them.  
  
  
- _Leo, we're not yet finished with out game._  
  
 _-Want me to go for another round?_  
  
- _Not that_ , she said, turning over to face him. _Our secrets game_ , she reminded him.  
  
- _Is there anything you haven't told me yet_? he asked, confused.  
  
- _I got curious at the thought of you loving someone else before me._  
  
 _-You wouldn't want to know it_ , he said, suppressing his smile.  
  
- _I insist_ , she pleaded.  
  
- _Alright._  
  
   
  
Leo breathed and began telling her.  
  
   
  
- _There was one, a girl whose name I wouldn't mention. She was my teenage girlfriend, started out at 15, then we broke up after a year before I joined army training. It's just the usual puppy love thing._  
  
 _-You also lost it with her?_  
  
Leo paused, wondering what Raisa meant. Then he got it.  
  
- _She was my first time. She initiated it. I didn't know she already did it with another guy. After breaking up with her, I learned that someone else got her pregnant._  
  
   
  
Leo smiled at the thought of his careless ways as a teenager and the girl who was his first in everything.  
  
  
- _Slut._  
  
Raisa said that word to him, the only comment she had about his first girlfriend. Instead of taking offense, Leo agreed with her wholeheartedly.  
  
   
  
- _I should have known it earlier. She was seeing me and the other guy at the same time_.  
  
   
  
Raisa couldn't help but laugh at the sound of his voice.  
  
- _That was so pitiful_ , she whimpered.  
  
- _Bitch_ , Leo said, pinching her nose playfully.  
  
- _Stop it!_ Raisa burst out in a fit of giggles. Leo turned his head downwards and kissed her neck, calming her down.  
  
- _Now it's your turn. Was there someone else before me?_  
  
   
  
A pregnant pause followed before Raisa nodded her head at him. From the looks of it, Leo sensed that she felt uncomfortable talking about it. The playful atmosphere they had earlier was replaced with a feeling of dark foreboding.  
  
   
  
- _It's okay, don't talk about it if you don't want to_.  
  
   
  
Raisa stalled for a while and replied,  
  
  
- _That would be unfair for you, since I know yours. So might as well tell mine._  
  
 _-I don't think I'll like what I'll hear._  
  
   
  
She took his hand and squeezed it. Raisa stared right into his eyes, as if she was telling him to trust and listen to her.  
  
   
  
- _I started it, so it ends with me. There was a boy in our village that I really liked since I was twelve. He lived in the house across from mine, and our families were friends with each other. We went to school together. We were really close friends. As I grew up, my feelings for him deepened. That was also the time wherein I got most of my male classmates' attention, except for him. It was my frustration, because he can't seem to notice me the way the other boys showered their attention on me. One day, I accidentally saw him kissing another girl when I returned after picking berries in the forest. I hid myself behind a tree and watched them kissed. I went home and cried my heart out as I buried my face on my pillow. My father saw me, and coaxed me out of it. He then gave me my first shot of vodka, telling me not to cry over boys. I drank more vodka and pretended to listen to him. Later on, I walked to his house and demanded that he comes out. He did, and in the midst of my drunken stupor, I pinned him against the wall and shouted, "Ivanovich, why can't you like me back?! I'm the most beautiful girl in class and I like you! Go out with me!"  He held me back and pinned me against the wall, saying, "I'm sorry, Raisa." After that day, we were not friends anymore._  
  
  
  
 _-That hurts_ , Leo mumbled. He realized the story doesn't end there when his wife continued.  
  
   
  
- _I was 16 then. War broke out afterwards, turning our lives in disarray. You know that I lost my home and family and became a refugee, right? You know of what happened to me back then. You know the first guy who did that to me?_  
  
- _Don't say it_ , Leo cut her off.  
  
- _You're right. It was him. Ivanovich, I lost it to him in the most gruesome way possible. He seemed to be drugged when he did that to me. I'll never forget the way he ripped my clothes and forced it on me while saying, "Let me taste the most beautiful girl in class"_.  
  
   
  
Raisa fell silent. Leo's heart broke after hearing her story about her first love who became a monster to her. He hugged her tightly.  
  
   
  
- _Let me hunt him down and kill him._  
  
  
  
 _-It's useless. He's dead now. Ivanovich was about to do that to me for a second time when one of the female refugees that he also raped stabbed him with a blunt knife on his back. That other girl took my hand and we escaped, riding on the back of a truck going to another village. That girl was the person who gave me the kopeck with the cyanide paste in it. She said it will prevent soldiers from raping me. I believed her. Since then, things got better for me. I lived with that girl in her aunt's house, doing work in exchange for pay. Later on, the girl urged me to go to Moscow with her, where someone helped us get through Moscow University. We both finished at the top of the class and we became teachers, sharing a common room. She was my friend all throughout. Her name is Lena_.  
  
   
  
Leo's ears pricked at the sound of the name _Lena_.  
  
   
  
- _Lena? But that's the name you gave me when I first met you._  
  
 _-We made a deal with each other. Whenever boys would try to pick us up, we would give the other's name; me as Lena and Lena as Raisa. We would only reveal our real name to a man if we feel that he can be trustworthy enough to spend the rest of our lives with._  
  
 _-But you didn't trusted me that much when you first met me_ , Leo said, knowing the reason why Raisa married him in the first place.  
  
- _As I said, I was scared. Add to that, you were so stubborn in pursuing me_.  
  
   
  
Raisa now laughed a little at a memory that was once awry for her.  
  
   
  
- _On the day I told Lena that I gave you my real name, she was shocked. More so when she found out that you were an MGB officer. I told her that I have to marry you, because I was afraid that if I refused you, you might have me arrested. She understood, and she assured me that I might live better as the wife of a military officer. The red dress I wore on our wedding day was Lena's. She lend it to me, and I never got to return it. Since then, I never knew what happened to her after I got married. But lately, I learned from our former landlady that she's married now, and lives in a province in Ukraine. I might as well visit her sometime._  
  
   
  
- _I'll go with you_ , Leo offered.  
  
- _Of course_.  
  
   
  
Raisa smiled at him in agreement. Leo kissed her and both fell silent once more. After a while, Leo spoke:  
  
   
  
- _When did you started loving me?_  
  
   
  
Raisa's gaze softened. She shyly met his eyes.  
  
- _I don't know. It just... happened._  
  
 _-How did you know?_  
  
 _-I told you, it just happened. Looks like my father was right about love._  
  
 _-What about it?_  
  
 _-Love just happens. Sometimes, it creeps up to you without knowing it. Sometimes, it's with the most unexpected of persons. I never expected it would be you, Officer Demidov._  
  
   
  
She grinned at him and pinched his cheek.  
  
- _Stop calling me 'Officer'_. It makes me cringe.  
  
He wrinkled his nose at her.  
  
- _Sure, Leo dear_.  
  
   
  
Now it was Raisa's turn to kiss him, and planted a peck on his lips. She pulled back, and then kissed him again; this time, it was a deeper and lingering kind of kiss. She found herself on top of him and made love to him again. They fell back after consummating the act, exhausted but fulfilled.  
  
Leo was about to fall asleep when Raisa laid her head on top of his chest.  
  
- _Go to sleep_ , he told her.  
  
 _-I can't fall asleep anymore. I'll just wait for the sun to come out._  
  
 _-Try getting some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you in school teaching those pesky students._  
  
 _-I know._  
  
   
  
Leo put an arm around her and placed her head on the crook of his shoulder.  
  
- _Goodnight_ , he whispered.  
  
   
  
Just after that, Raisa spoke up again:  
  
- _It was hard, but easy._  
  
 _-What do you mean?_   He asked.  
  
- _It was difficult for me to start loving you, but learning to love you without forcing it on myself happened easily_.  
  
   
  
She smiled and fell asleep quickly, her drowsiness overpowering her.  
  
   
  
Hard but easy.  
  
   
  
He loved the sound of those three words.  
  
   
  
For Leo Demidov, it now meant that at last, Raisa now loved him. It was better than those words "I love you."  
  
   
  
Even if she never said it, he knew she did. He loved her, and she now loved him.  
  
   
  
-END-


End file.
